Festival organisers need to follow my advice to improve things for disabled fans

There is something liberating about entering a completely different world for a few days with like-minded people. 

Whether it was the coming-of-age trip to Reading at 16 with friends, the weekend escapes to Secret Garden Party, or the summer trips deliberately planned around festivals in Croatia or Hungary, they always seem to represent the pinnacle of getting away from it all.

While they are always exhausting for everyone who attends, I find them especially draining both before and after.

That’s because I’m a triple amputee after becoming ill with sepsis shortly before I turned one. I flat-lined seven times and had multiple organ failure, which meant that I lost my right leg below the knee, all the fingers on my left hand, and most of the digits on my right hand.

All this means that the excitement of getting away with friends is coupled with the need for meticulous planning ahead of the event, which can often involve minimising physical activities in the week before any festival or hours of researching the campsite.

I also need to be careful with my safety. On that score, I’m speaking from experience; I tore both of my hip flexor muscles while walking back from a festival in Spain in 2014 after spending hours trying to find a taxi that wouldn’t exploit my situation by doubling the price as soon as they saw my prosthetic leg.

This may have been a one off, but the long-lasting damage made me reconsider whether festivals were ‘worth it’, which is sad given the feeling I know they are able to offer. Information can be difficult to find, which is an off-putting way to start the experience, or some of the accessibility measures are not always as advertised, leading to some serious buyer’s remorse.

That’s why I’ve been reluctant to join the ballot for tickets to Glastonbury after reading that the average attendee walks an estimated five miles each day, and 30 miles over the course of the whole event. 

I know they have accessible options in place, but my reluctance to separate myself from the crowds has meant I have opted for smaller events like Hideout in Croatia.

My personal experience is one thing, but I know I am not alone in this. As lead of our internal employee resource group for all things disability and accessibility related at marketing agency Wunderman Thompson, I decided to investigate this further. 

When analysing discussions on social media and blogs, my research suggested that – of the 4.7million mentions of UK festivals each year on social media – only 28,739 (or 0.6%) mentioned accessibility. 

When you consider that 16million people in the UK alone are disabled, it suggests this is a conversation that – for one reason or another – we are largely not having. 

I worry that many disabled people are either struggling to find accessibility information, or worse, discovering that what is displayed on the website may not match what is in reality. 

Just look at what happened to Frances Simmonds-Mead, a full-time wheelchair user who says she arrived at Download festival this year to find that the accessible camping area was full and had inadequate charging points for the number of wheelchairs there, which typically need an overnight charge.

Or last year, when Wireless Festival placed their accessibility stand so far away that many said they would have been better off watching the event on TV.

It’s incumbent on the festival industry to address accessibility concerns and work towards a more inclusive experience for all, not only because it’s the right thing to do, but because it makes good financial sense to broaden their customer base as much as possible.

There is cause for optimism. 

Festival organisers are being increasingly outward and proactive in their communications about accessibility, and we are also seeing better accommodations for less-visible conditions such as hearing impairments and neurodiversity. 

I recently had the pleasure of attending The Cambridge Club Festival and found accessibility measures to be both obvious and practically helpful. 

The information on their site gave details for the entire duration of the event, and it was clear that every aspect of the day had been thought of.

Accessibility is being shifted higher up on the agenda, but there is still some way to go. 

While the majority of festivals have accessibility information, I would love to see them be given an entire section on their websites, not just buried under broader sections on transport or ticketing. 

Most importantly, I would encourage organisers to ask disabled people what they can do to make them feel comfortable attending, and then follow through with it without compromise.

The unique atmosphere and energy you get when experiencing live music is special and shouldn’t just be something for able-bodied people to enjoy. 

I know from my experiences, both good and bad, that accessibility is entirely possible, but it requires the right commitments from organisers and everyone involved listening to the right voices, even as early as the planning stage.

For disabled people, and indeed everyone else, festivals are short opportunities for real freedom, and we shouldn’t exclude anyone from that opportunity. 

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